Summary: God works in and through families of all kinds. He thinks and moves in generations.  As a follower of Jesus, God doesn’t just shape you through your family, he calls you to be a shaper.

1. How has your family shaped you?  How are you shaping your family?

2. How does your family reveal who you are?

3. What stories from the panel discussion stood out to you or were the most poignant?  Why?

4. What changes may God be calling you to make in your family setting?

Week 9: Gospel and Marriage.

Summary: A disciple’s life is marked by giving ourselves wholly to the Lord so that we might serve and submit to others in love.  Biblical marriage reflects this picture intimately, as a husband and wife die to themselves and live for Christ in their relationship.

Recommended Resources for further consideration:

The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller

The Relational Soul by Richard Plass and Jim Cofield

The Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas

You and Me Forever by Francis Chan

Small Group Questions

Summary: God created our sexuality as a good gift and as essential reflection of who we are.  In sin, we have twisted it for selfish and idolatrous purposes.  But God, in mercy, redeems our brokenness with his love and can bring healing, hope, and a desire to obey.

Recommended Resources for further consideration:

Small Group Questions

1. No one approaches the topic of sexuality in a vacuum, but through the lens of their own experiences, both good and bad.  Where are you coming from as you think through the Creation, Fall, and Redemption of sexuality?

2. The culture often defines what is “good” in sexuality very differently from the Bible.  Do you struggle with areas of conflict?  Which ones and why?  Have you studied what the Bible does say about sexuality?

3. In your sexuality, do you struggle with shame, addiction, idolatry, selfishness, or same-sex attraction?  Are you walking through this on your own with willpower alone?  Or with the power of the gospel, and with others?

4. How could you begin to apply the new identity of 1 Corinthians 6:11?  Who is encouraging you in these areas?

5. How could your sexuality be a portrayal of the covenant love and faithfulness of God?  [This is possible both in marriage or as a celibate single person].

Summary: How much time do you spend preoccupied with your body?  Our bodies are more than just worthless shells, yet less than objects of worship.   They belong to the Lord and He intends them for good.

Small Group Questions

1. Who influences what and how you think about your body?  In what ways?

2. In what ways do you experience the “civil war” between the truth that we’re made in God’s image and the sinful temptations of idolatry or shame associated with our bodies?   Do you view your body as a prison?  A god?

3. How does 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 encourage us that the battle is HIS?

Summary: The disciple interacts with governing authorities by submitting to Jesus as King, seeking the Unity of the Spirit, and living as a kingdom citizen.

Small Group Questions

1.  Have you approached politics with the subconscious idea that everyone has experienced this country in the same way as you?  Do you allow that godly men and women can have different opinions?

2. Are you prepared to seek the unity of the Spirit with those who disagree with you on matters of partisan politics?  Can you share the Communion table with them?

3.  What does it look like to live in light of Daniel 4:34-35?  How does the heavenly government interact with human governments?

4.  We made five appeals:  Trust, Be Sober-minded, Hope, Extend Grace, and – then – Engage.  Which of the first four is most difficult for you in this divisive election season?  Are you willing to wait on engaging the process until the Lord has worked #1-#4 in your soul?

Summary:  The human nature is given to extremes, either making laws against something or over-indulging.  This is certainly true for digital technologies. We live differently In light of the gospel, though. Jesus puts technology in its rightful place for the disciple, seeing it as useful but also fleeting and engrossing.

Recommended Resources for further consideration:

Small Group Questions

We live differently than the world because of what God has done and will do (1 Cor. 7:29-31)

1.  Are you more likely to over-indulge technology or to avoid it with human laws or fear?

2.  In what ways does the Scripture call us to live differently because “time is short”?  See Romans 13:10-12.

3.  Three questions to discern whether we’re mis-using technology

Summary:  In the Trinity, we have the perfect model for how we should function in our relationships. Through and because of God’s gospel grace, we are invited into the “Trinitarian Dance,” a Dance that is intimate, joyful, one of servanthood, purity, power, creative, and full of peace.

Recommended Resources for further consideration:

Small Group Questions

1. Do I have authentic relationships with other followers of Christ? What does that look like?

2. Does anyone know me well enough to call me out with regard to sin?

3. How does the health of my relationships affect my discipleship, for better or for worse?

4. How can you improve your relationships as you look to the future? Specifically, your relationship with the Lord. Your family? Your close friends? Small group? D-group? etc…

Summary:    The gospel transforms our relationship with God in calling us Beloved.  We are his children, invited into the sacred space of His family.  Being beloved gives security today, glory tomorrow, and purifying us by the Holy Spirit in between.

Recommended Resources for further consideration:

Small Group Questions

1.  We interact with God in one way or another, even if it’s not through a gospel lens.  Do you sense any hiding, running, or impressing in yourself?  Why do you think you take on these postures?

2.  As Beloved, through the gospel of Jesus, our present reality is secure.  What does it look like to live with this mentality as opposed to an abandonment mentality?

3.  What does Hope, the hope that as Beloved children our tomorrow is glorious, produce in us?

4.  1 John 3:3 shows that the gospel hope also purifies us.  What are ways that the Holy Spirit purifies?  How can we train our minds to look upward in communion with Him?